Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
On May 25, 1953 the Grable test under Operation Upshot Knothole fired the W9 nuclear artillery shell over 6 miles downrange at Frenchman's Flat detonating at 15 kilotons. The artillery shell weighed roughly 803 lbs. This was 1950's technology that could still fit in the back of a pickup truck and level a city. I'm sure they're a lot lighter and a lot more powerful today. So, yes. If we could do it in '53 we could definitely do it today, but with orders of magnitude more destructive force and likely lighter weight.
Edit: I did some more digging. For instance, the W88 warhead aboard MIRV's on nuclear subs today have an explosive force of 475 kilotons with a mean average weight of 400 lbs for comparison. Though, most of that weight is probably shielding for reentry, so you could probably cut it back significantly if you're just putting it in a car trunk.